Yarn feeding means



Jan. 4, 1966 H. WHITE ETAL 3,226,956

YARN FEEDING MEANS Filed Sept. 25, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR.

HAROLD WHITE. BY OSCAR FREGEOLLE.

A TTORNE Y Jan. 4, 1966 WHITE ETAL YARN FEEDING MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 25, 1963 INVENTOR. HAROLD WHITE OSCAR. FEEGEOLLE. mm %.%M

A TTORNE Y United States Patent 3,226,956 YARN FEEDING MEANS;

Harold White, flumherland, and Sscar Fregeolle, Lin.- h-

This invention pertains to circular knitting machines of the independent needle type and, more particularly, to a novel means for feeding two yarns simultaneously at different levels to the needles and sinkers.

It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved means for feeding and controlling the yarns being fed to form special stitches such as terry loops either conventional or plaited or conventional plaiting.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved yarn feeding finger and cooperating mouthpiece which is effective in presenting and maintaining the necessary separation of the yarns being fed to the needles and sinkers when knitting reciprocatorily.

It is still further object of the invention to provide an improved cooperating mouthpiece having a lower cam ming edge that is effective in guiding the latches of needles prior to their taking yarn.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following more detailed disclosure.

In circular knitting machines of the independent needle type it is often desirous to form special stitches such as terry loops which, in a manner well known to those familiar with the art, are formed by feeding two yarns simultaneously from different levels separated one from the other as far as possible. Prior to the instant invention the means utilized to feed these yarns from two different levels comprised two separate yarn fingers one of which would feed its yarn from a lower point in the mouthpiece than the other. With this means of feeding two yarns simultaneously it has often been difficult to maintain the necessary separation between the two yarns during reciprocatory knitting especially, which requires a very rapid yarn change as well as an early insertion of the sinkers over which the terry loops are formed.

The mechanism according to the instant invention provides an improved and positive means of feeding and maintaining the necessary separation of yarns while forming terry loops either in reciprocatory or rotary knitting. A dual yarn finger is employed which is selectively movable in a vertical direction and it feeds its yarns from vertically spaced points thereon. This yarn finger is provided with a lower yarn eye from which a base yarn is fed and an upper elongated eyeslot through which the yarn for forming the terry loops or one of the plaiting yarns is fed.

The mouthpiece which forms a part of the invention is provided with a centrally disposed recess which extends in a vertical direction and partially along the front face of said mouthpiece. The dual yarn finger is selectively movable in a vertical plane into and out of this recess thereby permitting the base yarn to be fed from a lower point in the mouthpiece. Additionally, the dual yarn finger assures a wider and positive separation between the yarns during either reciprocatory or rotary knitting. During reciprocatory movement of the needle cylinder the upper elongated eyeslot is advantageous in that the yarn passing therethrough is automatically drawn from one end of the slot or the other depending on the direction of rotation of the needle cylinder thereby positioning saidyatn closer to the point where it is taken by the needle and drawn over the crown of the sinkers and maintaining the proper separation of the two yarns.

3,225,956 Patented Jan. 4, 1966 "ice Should the latches of the needles become partially closed before passing the mouthpiece and taking yarn, the lower edge of said mouthpiece serves as a guide means by camming the latches to a fully open position. This lower guiding edge of the mouthpiece is continuous with the central portion thereof extending below the adjacent edge portions.

The invention will hereinafter be described in greater detail by reference to a specific embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying figures of drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation showing a portion of a knitting machine and the mechanism according to the invention applied thereto;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the mechanism shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in front elevation of the device shown in FIG. 1 with certain parts omitted to illustrate more clearly the invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view partially in section of the mechanism according to the invention as seen looking from line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view partially in section of the dual yarn finger and mouth piece according to the invention as seen looking from line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a view in front elevation of the parts shown in FIG. 5;

R16. 7 is a perspective view of the dual yarn finger showing the manner in which the yarns are fed therethrough and their relationship to the sinkers over which the yarns are drawn; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the mouthpiece showing the centrally disposed recess into which the dual yarn finger is caused to be selectively inserted or withdrawn.

Now referring to the figures of drawing, enough of a circular type independent needle knitting machine is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to serve as a basis for a detailed description of the invention applied thereto.

The phantom lines depicted in the various figures of drawing show some of the conventional parts of a circular knitting machine and their relationship to the various components comprising the invention.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a needle cylinder 10 having a sinker head 11 and sinker cap 12 which are attached in a known manner to the upper portion of said cylinder and immediately below a carrier ring 13.

The carrier ring 13 is of conventional design having an opening or yarn feeding station at the side thereof in whicha plurality of selectively movable yarn levers 14 are positioned.

The invention provides a novel means for feeding two yarns simultaneously and is confined to the yarn feeding station and although only one such station is shown in the drawings, it is to be understood. that the invention would be equally applicable to machines having more than one feeding station.

That portion of the carrier ring 13 which forms the sides of the feeding station has attached to one side thereof by means of screws 15 and 16 a yarn guide plate support 17 which extends in a generally upward direction and supports a horizontally disposed yarn guide plate 18 on its upper surface (FEGS. 1 and 2). Thisguide plate overlies a portion of the yarn levers and is provided with a plurality of porcelain eye members 19 (H6. 2) through which the various yarns are directed and guided to the eye portion of their respective yarn lever 14.

The mechanism according to the instant invention in cludes a dual yarn finger generally indicated by nurn eral 2t) which, unlike the conventional pivotable yarn levers, is selectively movable in a vertical plane from the dotted line position to the solid position as depicted in FIG. 1.

The dual yarn finger includes a vertically disposed bar member 21 which is supported by and slidable in a yarn finger slide bracket 22 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

A dual yarn eye unit generally indicated by numeral 23 is attached to the lower portion of the bar member 21 by means of screws 24 and 25 (FIGS. 1, 5, and 6) and includes a lower depending yarn eye 2% and an upper elongated eyeslot 27 vertically spaced from said lower depending yarn eye.

The yarn finger slide bracket 22 which is grooved as indicated by numeral 28 in FIG. 4 provides a vertically disposed track in which bar member 21 is slidable. This slide bracket is provided with a side plate 29 which attaches to said bracket by means of screws 30 (FIG. 1) and serving as one side of the bracket 22 a channel is formed for maintaining bar member 21 in a vertical position.

The side plate 29 is provided With an elongated slot 31 (FIG. 1) through which a pin member 32 is caused to protrude. Pin member 32 is fixedly attached to bar member 21 and serves as a means for selectively raising and lowering the bar member by a mechanism to be described more fully hereinafter. The yarn finger slide bracket 22 is located in a generally centralized position above a mouthpiece indicated by numeral 33 (FIGS. 2, 3, and 4) which forms a part of the invention and will also be described more fully hereinafter.

The slide bracket is firmly held in this centralized position by means of screws 34 and 35 that attach it to a bracket extension 36 (FIG. 1) which in turn is supported by bolts 37 and 38. One end of the bolts 37 and 38 passes through the bracket extension 36 and is fixedly positioned therein by means of lock nuts 3 and 40. The opposite threaded portion end of bolts 37 and 38 assembles in tapped holes provided in the yarn guide plate support 17 and is fixedly positioned therein by means of lock nuts 41 and 42.

The means utilized to selectively raise and lower the bar member 21 includes a slide lever 43 which as shown in FIG. 4 is pivotally attached intermediate its ends to an internally threaded extension 44 of bolt 37 by means of a cap screw 45. That portion of bolt 37 intermediate the bracket extension 36 and the slide lever 43 and which is indicated by numeral 46 is in its original or unmachined form and serves as a shoulder against which said slide lever is caused to bear.

One end of the slide lever 43 is bifurcated as at 47 which is adapted to receive the pin member 32 that protrudes through the slot 41 in side plate 29. An adjustable connecting link 48 is pivotally attached to the opposite end of the slide lever 43 and, extending in a generally downward direction, the lower end of said link is pivotally attached to and adjacent the outer end of a yarn lever extension 49. This adjustability permits an accurate initial setting of finger 23. The inner end of the yarn lever extension is fixedly attached to one end of a lever 50 by means of screws 51 and 52 (FIG. 1) thereby forming a double armed lever which is pivotally supported by means of a rod 53. Rod 53 passes through a centrally disposed aperture at the point where these lever members attach one to the other and the ends of said rod are supported in aligned apertures provided in ears 54 (one only shown in FIG. 1) which form an integral part of and extend upwardly from the carrier ring 13.

The outermost end of the yarn lever extension 43 terminates in the form of a hook 55 which is adapted to receive one end of a coil spring 56. Extending in a generally upward direction this spring 56 attaches at its opposite end to the shank portion of a screw 57 the threaded portion of which assembles in a tapped hole provided in the outer turned up edge portion of the yarn guide plate 18. Spring member 56 being assembled under tension is continually urging the yarn lever extension 49 to the solid line position depicted in FIG. 1 and by means of the linkages interconnected therewith, the dual yarn eye unit 23 which is attached to the lower end of the vertically disposed bar member 21 is also being continually urged to the solid line or feeding position shown in FIG. 1.

Lever 5! which forms the lower arm of the double armed lever generally indicated by numeral 58 extends downwardly for a portion of its length thence inwardly toward the needle cylinder to form a shoe or camming surface 59. This camming surface is in abutting relation with the inner and upper end portion of a yarn change lever 60 which is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends by means of a rod 61. Rod 61 is supported at each end thereof in aligned apertures provided in the sides of a yarn change lever guide bracket 62. This guide bracket 62 is of conventional design and it supportsa plurality of similar yarn change levers (not shown) which are adapted to cooperate with levers similar to that indicated by numeral 50 for controlling in a known manner the movement of yarn levers 14.

The outer end of the yarn change lever 60 is slotted as at 63 and is adapted to receive therein the linkage (not shown) which interconnects said lever with the main pattern drum for actuating the same in a manner well known to those conversant in the art.

When the slotted end 63 of the yarn change lever 60 is pulled downwardly, the opposite end moves upwardly to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 1. This movement causes lever 58 to pivot to the dotted line position illustrated in this figure of drawing and actuates the linkage pivotally attached adjacent the opposite end of said lever 58, thereby raising the dual yarn eye unit 23 to that position indicated by dotted lines in said figure of drawing. This movement expands spring member 56 and when the yarn change lever 60 is again caused to return to its initial position, the retraction of said spring pulls the yarn lever extension 49 upwardly to actuate the linkage connected therewith in such a manner as to lower the dual yarn eye unit 23 to its initial position.

To obtain a fine adjustment for controlling the distance the dual yarn eye unit is permitted to descend, an adjusting feature is provided and includes a stop screw bracket 64 (FIGS. 1 and 3) attached to that portion of bar member 21 which protrudes from the upper end of the yarn finger slide bracket 22. This stop screw bracket is generally L-shaped and attaches to the bar member 21 by means of a cap screw 65. One leg of this bracket 64 overlies and extends beyond the upper end of the bar member 21 as at 66 (FIG. 3) and is provided at this point with a vertically disposed adjusting screw 67. The threaded portion of screw 67assernbles in a tapped hole provided in the upper surface of bracket 64, and passing therethrough the tip portion contacts the uppermost end of the yarn finger slide bracket 22 to limit the distance the bar member 21 is allowed to descend. Screw 67 is vertically adjustable and to maintain it in a desired position a lock nut 68 is assembled on the threaded portion intermediate the head of said screw and the upper surface of bracket The mouthpiece generally indicated by numeral 33 which forms the lower and inner portion of the feeding station is adapted to cooperate with the dual yarn eye unit 23. The mouthpiece is provided with a centrally disposed recess 69 which extends in a vertical direction partially along the front face thereof. This recess 69 (FIG. 8) is adapted to receive the lower depending yarn eye 26 of the dual yarn eye unit 23 when the latter is selectively lowered to feed its yarns A and B (FIGS. 3, 6, and 7). The mouthpiece has a continuous lower camming edge 7% the central portion of which extends below the adjacent edge portions as at 71. This lower camming edge is adapted to guide the latches of the needles (not shown) to a fully open position should they become partially closed before reaching that point where they take yarn and are caused to knit.

In operation, the plain stitches or plaited or those which do not contain the terry loops are formed from yarns A and B which are fed through the dual yarn eye unit 23. Both yarns are drawn together over the horizontal edge 72 of the sinkers generally indicated by numeral 73 (one only shown in FIGS. 1 and 7). The sinkers are of two different butt lengths and are radially movable and are disposed in alternation with the needles in a manner well known to those familiar with the art.

The dual yarn eye unit 23 is selectively movable in a vertical direction into and away from yarn feeding position and the lower depending yarn eye 26 being vertically spaced from the upper elongated eye slot 27 provides the required space between the yarns necessary for forming terry loops. The centrally disposed recess 69 (FIG. 8) in the mouthpiece facilitates the forming of terry stitches by permitting yarns A and B to be fed simultaneously through a single yarn finger or lever and at a lower point in said mouthpiece. As shown in FIG. 7, yarns A and B when fed from this lower position are in close alignrnent with those points on the sinker over which they are caused to be drawn and maintain a positive yarn separa tion for reception of said sinker. During the formation of terry loops, the sinkers at that point where the needles take yarn and knit are caused to move inwardly to the extent where yarn A will be drawn over the nib or crown 74 and yarn B will be drawn over the horizontal edge 72 of said sinkers.

If the sinkers are not selected to move inwardly to the extent that the crown 74 penetrates betwen the separated yarns, both yarns will be drawn over the horizontal edge 72 of the sinkers and plain stitches will be formed.

The provision of an elongated feeding slot at 27 rather than just an eyelet makes possible a wider division or separation between the two yarns at those points where they are taken by the needles as indicated by the phantom lines A and B (FIG. 6) when the needle cylinder is moving in the opposite direction.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive concept may be carried out in a number of ways. This invention is, therefore, not to be limtied, to the precise details described, but is intended to embrace all variations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. For a knitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles slidably mounted therein, a plurality of radially movable sinkers disposed in alternation with said needles and a mouthpiece including a plurality of selectively movable yarn fingers, a dual yarn finger adapted to move in a vertical plane to and from yarn feeding position and feed two yarns from vertically spaced points thereon.

2. For a knitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles slidably mounted therein, a plurality of radially movable sinkers disposed in alternation with said needles and a mouthpiece including a plurality of selectively movable yarn fingers, a dual yarn finger adapted to feed two yarns from vertically spaced points thereon, said dual yarn finger including a lower yarn eye through which a first yarn may be fed and an elongated upper eyeslot through which a second yarn may be fed in spaced relation with said first yarn and said upper eyeslot being adapted to feed its yarn from either end thereof during reciprocation of said needle cylinder.

3. For a knitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles slidably mounted therein, a plurality of radially movable sinkers disposed in alternation with said needles and a mouthpiece including a plurality of selectively movable yarn fingers, a dual yarn finger adapted to feed two yarns from vertically spaced points thereon, said dual yarn finger including a lower yarn eye through which a first yarn may be fed and an elongated upper eyeslot through which a second yarn may be fed in spaced relation with said first yarn and said upper eyeslot being adapted to feed its yarn from either end thereof during reciprocation of said needle cylinder, said mouthpiece including a centrally disposed recess adapted to receive the lower portion of said dual yarn finger when the latter is selectively lowered to yarn feeding position.

4. For a knitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles slidably mounted therein, a plurality of radially movable sinkers disposed in alternation with said needles and a mouthpiece including a plurality of selectively movable yarn fingers, a dual yarn finger adapted to feed two yarns from vertically spaced points thereon, said dual yarn finger including a lower yarn eye through which a first yarn may be fed and an elongated upper eyeslot through which a second yarn may be fed in spaced relation with said first yarn and said upper eyeslot being adapted to feed its yarn from either end thereof during reciprocation of said needle cylinder, said mouthpiece having a centrally disposed recess extending partially along the front face thereof, said dual yarn finger being movable in a vertical plane into and out of said recess.

5. For a knitting machine having a needle cylinder, needles slidably mounted therein, a plurality of radially movable sinkers disposed in alternation with said needles and a mouthpiece including a plurality of selectively movable yarn fingers, a dual yarn finger adapted to feed two yarns from vertically spaced points thereon, said dual yarn finger including a lower yarn eye through which a first yarn may be fed and an elongated upper eyeslot through which a second yarn may be fed in spaced relation with said first yarn and said upper eyeslot being adapted to feed its yarn from either end thereof during reciprocation of said needle cylinder, said mouthpiece having a continuous lower camming edge for guiding the latches of said needles the central portion of which eX- tends below the adjacent edge portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,002,417 5/1935 Simpson 66--l38 X 2,436,318 2/1948 McDonough 66-93 2,436,904 3/1948 Shea 6693 2,789,422 4/1957 Mills 66136 2,988,907 6/1961 Bruce 66-436 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner. 

1. FOR A KNITTING MACHINE HAVING A NEEDLE CYLINDER, NEEDLES SLIDABLY MOUNTED THEREIN, A PLURALITY OF RADIALLY MOVABLE SINKERS DISPOSED IN ALTERNATION WITH SAID NEEDLES AND A MOUTHPIECE INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SELECTIVELY MOVABLE YARN FINGERS, A DUAL YARN FINGER ADAPTED TO MOVE IN A VERTICAL PLANE TO AND FROM YARN FEEDING POSITION AND FEED TWO YARNS FROM VERTICALLY SPACED POINTS THEREON. 